A Timeless Tale at Kunst&Denker, Düsseldorf

As the title of the exhibition reveals, the process-based works of Yorgos Stamkopoulos are a boundless painting action around a timeless story. Lines that have no beginning and no end; abstract forms created by addition and subtraction, as in a sculptural process; works, which are held in pleasant colors and play in different proportions with our perception.

By applying a layer of insulating material before using paint, which prevents contact with the canvas, a picture is created layer by layer, which only partially finds its way onto the canvas. On the previous works Stamkopoulos sprayed colors, which kept him on a distance from the painting surface. In his current works he turns back on using oil painting with brushes, which allows him to savor the full range of pastos. In the end, the layers can – like a mask- be removed as a whole and it only those parts of the painted canvas are visible on which there was no insulating material. The works represent nothing, except the own creative history, and thus refer to the dominant moment of gestures in painting.

The viewer is confronted with a multi-layered painting and a strong play of materials-materials that are visible on the canvas, but also those that Stamkopoulos removed during his painting process and are no longer visible. The artistic result expresses the gestural subconscious of the artist. The seemingly unpainted parts of the canvas claim the need for free space within the strict framework of painting to allow a freedom of association and critical thinking. Covering and Unveiling, Expectation and Randomness, Impulse and Correction – opposing pairs meeting in the work of Yorgos Stamkopoulos.